Barbed Wire Crawl

Barbed wire, my most hated obstacle.  It’s not necessarily the hardest obstacle but I find it the most tedious and annoying one for several reasons.  First off you might have a great rhythm going with running and jumping over things, ya know, really moving along the course.  Then you reach arguably the slowest obstacle on the course next to swimming or some other water based obstacles. The second thing is  that it just hurts to crawl on sharp rocks, peoples lost safety pins from their bibs, and the occasional barb wire to the back when you get over excited.

With all that being said there is two ways to get through the barb wire, one easier and one hard.

1. The harder and more standard method is to crawl on your belly like what you would imagine a soldier doing. Most of the time the barb wire is so low you can’t go on your hands and knees.  But instead you will find yourself more on your inner forearms and inner knee/shin area. At the Spartan Beast in Vermont the barb wire was so low and the rocks so bumpy that at points you would have to pull with your hands and forearms while dragging your body behind you like a slug.

If you choose to go with this method a few things you might want to add to your gear list are: mueller pro tape for your elbows and knees or padding for your elbows and for your knees.  Either way, don’t forget to have fun and smile your way through the pain.

2. The easier method is rolling on your sides like a rolling pin. This is a much different and easier method for most, but for me, I have a hard time with it.  When I roll for too long I get a bit dizzy and disoriented. I highly suggest rolling around on your own before you find yourself under barbed wire; it’s not a good time when you realize you are dizzy and feeling sick surrounded by mud, barbed wire, and tons of people wondering why you aren’t moving. Also if you happen to be a rolling pin don’t forget to look around and see if your feet are rolling into people when it gets crowded.

Exercises to Improve

Here are a few exercise that can help you prepare for a long mud crawl under low barbed wire besides actually practicing crawling around under low wire.  I suggest working on your core with exercises such as planks and super mans.  Another that is one of my personal favorite is the hand walk out.  Check out the videos and photos on those exercise links to get the details on how to do them properly.

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